Has the initial bonhomie between TRS president and CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is gradually disappearing?
The answer seems to be yes, as both the chief ministers have been displaying serious differences between them, at least in terms of their stand towards the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
While Jagan government has been openly supporting the Modi government on various issues, the KCR government has taken a completely different stand.
Jagan has given his complete support to the Atma Nirbhar Bharat package announced by the Centre, but KCR strongly resisted the same.
Jagan quickly accepted one of the two options suggested by the Centre to go in for additional borrowings to offset GST compensation, but KCR rejected both the options, saying they are detrimental to the interests of the state.
Jagan has agreed to follow the Centre’s condition of fixing meters to the agriculture power connections and direct cash transfer to farmers towards subsidy, but KCR described the condition as draconian and declared that he would never implement the decision.
Jagan’s YSR Congress party openly supported the NDA government candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh in the elections to the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, but the TRS MPs boycotted the election.
And in the latest instance, Jagan government and his party wholeheartedly supported the Modi government’s controversial bills on agriculture that have been strongly resisted by the farmers across the country.
But KCR said his party would vote against the Bills in Rajya Sabha as the bills would benefit the Corporates only and adversely impact the farmers.
The bills would cause huge losses to the agriculture sector and are against the interests of farmers in the country, he said.
It remains to be seen whether these differences between KCR and Jagan are confined only to their stand on the Central policies or have gone to the extent of affecting each other’s interests.